Chapter 89: I Know Everything
Issho's brows drew together.
There was no hesitation this time.
The moment Forsyth's men tried to move, a crushing force descended on the entire orphanage.
Boom.
Every last one of them was slammed to the ground.
Wood groaned. Dust shook loose from the beams. Men who had still been snarling a moment ago were now flattened like insects under a giant's palm, their faces twisted in panic.
Only Axel and Hawkins remained calm.
Adelaide, on the other hand, felt his scalp go numb.
What kind of monster had he been thinking of escaping from all this time?
The townspeople who had been crowding the entrance snapped out of their confusion all at once. Screams rang through the building as they turned and fled, stumbling over each other in terror.
The pressure kept building.
It did not kill the traffickers outright, but it ruined them.
Bones creaked. Limbs bent where they were never meant to bend. Arms and legs were crushed so thoroughly that, even if they survived, they would never threaten anyone again.
"Ahhh!"
Their cries became shrill and ragged, torn out of them by pain.
Issho's justice was never softhearted indulgence. He could be humane, yes, but only toward those who deserved humanity. Toward evil, he was as absolute as falling stone.
He showed them no mercy.
"I'll go after him," Issho said, already turning toward the hidden passage. "Watch these people."
Then he was gone.
Using Observation Haki, he moved at frightening speed, his cane sword tapping only once before his figure disappeared into the secret corridor.
Normally, he would never have left Axel behind in the middle of something like this. But these men were already broken, Hawkins was here, and Axel was no helpless child.
It was enough.
Axel immediately looked at Hawkins.
"These people are yours."
Hawkins gave a small nod, as calm as ever.
"Understood."
The answer was enough for Axel. He took off after Issho without another word.
He entered the secret passage only moments later, but Issho was already nowhere to be seen.
Axel clicked his tongue and kept running.
He charges around this fast while blind. Isn't he worried about smashing into a wall?
The hidden corridor sloped downward in a long, narrow line. There were no forks, no traps, no extra rooms. Just a straight route leading out toward the sea.
By the time Axel emerged, Issho had already sheathed his sword.
Far offshore, a ship was sinking.
The stern was still visible above the water, but it was going fast.
Axel understood immediately.
Forsyth had fled through the hidden route, rushed to a prepared vessel, and tried to make his escape by sea.
Issho had caught him.
Or rather, caught the ship.
There was no sign of Forsyth now. Whether he had gone down with the vessel or been crushed into the sea, the result was the same.
He was finished.
Axel felt no pity.
If anything, he was annoyed.
That fat bastard should have lived at least long enough to tell them where the trafficked people were being held. Dying before that felt like cheating.
"Aren't you going to keep looking?" Axel asked.
Issho turned back.
"People's hearts do not lie."
Then he simply began walking back.
Axel stared at him for a second.
What exactly was that supposed to mean?
Did it mean Forsyth had lied from the beginning? That he had already sensed something else? That the answer had never been in the man himself?
Axel did not understand, but Issho clearly had no intention of explaining, so he followed him back in silence.
When they returned to the orphanage, Hawkins had already handled the situation.
Without Issho's full pressure weighing them down, the surviving traffickers were no longer plastered flat against the floor. But they were still sprawled in miserable heaps, unable to move.
Several corpses lay among them.
Near Hawkins' feet sat a few straw dolls.
That was enough to tell Axel what had happened.
Some of them must have tried to flee the moment Issho left. Hawkins had killed them without fuss.
Axel was not surprised.
He had never taken those men's injuries as a guarantee. Broken limbs did not stop every desperate animal from crawling.
Issho said nothing.
Axel, meanwhile, turned his attention to the captives.
Forsyth might be dead, but this place had not run itself. Moving people, hiding them, transporting them to other islands, all of it required manpower. There was no way every single one of these scum had remained ignorant.
A smile slowly appeared on Axel's face.
It was not a pleasant one.
After a while, the room fell utterly quiet.
The men on the floor had already been broken by Issho physically. Axel finished the rest mentally.
When he was done, he had the answer he wanted.
Most of the trafficked people were no longer here.
Only a few had been kept behind temporarily. The rest had already been transferred to the true headquarters, an island not far from this one.
At that exact moment, a commotion rose outside.
"Give Lord Forsyth back!"
"You villains!"
"Lord Forsyth is a good man!"
"He would never do anything evil!"
The shouting swelled like a wave.
Axel blinked once, then sighed.
Of course.
A man like Forsyth could not have built this entire operation without a mask, and clearly, he had worn it well. The fools outside truly believed in him.
Issho walked out first.
Axel and Hawkins followed.
A crowd of over a hundred townspeople had gathered outside the orphanage. They looked fierce enough at a glance, but Axel could tell immediately that they were just ordinary civilians. No training. No discipline. No real power.
A rabble, not a fighting force.
The moment they saw the three of them emerge, the noise exploded again.
"It's them!"
"They attacked Lord Forsyth!"
"Throw them out!"
One of the townspeople pointed straight at Issho, clearly someone who had fled the building earlier.
No one asked questions.
No one waited for an explanation.
Bottles, tools, broken bricks, and farm implements came flying.
Every one of them stopped short and fell harmlessly to the ground.
"That weird trick again!"
The man who had shouted first took a step back, his voice shaking now.
Then the accusations started in earnest.
"Hand Lord Forsyth over!"
"Get off our island!"
"You're not welcome here!"
"Not welcome!"
The chant spread quickly.
Axel glanced sideways at Issho.
The man's face had turned ashen.
The cheers of the townsfolk for a trafficker. Their blind loyalty. Their ignorance.
Every word seemed to strike him harder than any bullet could have.
And yet he did not refute them.
He did not try to defend himself either.
He simply stood there and endured it.
Then, just as the noise threatened to rise again, a hand lifted above the crowd.
Silence spread in ripples.
The townspeople parted, forming a narrow path.
An old man walked through them with slow, steady steps. His face was lined with age, but his back was still straight, and the authority in his bearing was unmistakable.
"I am the mayor of this town," he said. "I would like to speak with you privately about Forsyth."
The moment he said that, several people protested.
"Mayor, that's too dangerous!"
"They're villains!"
"Please, let someone else go in your place!"
A middle aged man stepped forward at once.
"Father, let me speak for you."
The mayor did not even look at him.
He simply lifted a hand again, and the crowd fell quiet under that old authority.
Then he turned to his son and said sternly, "I have made my decision. Step aside."
The man clenched his jaw, but in the end, he obeyed.
A short while later, the conversation moved into a private room inside the orphanage.
The door shut.
The shouting outside faded into a distant murmur.
The mayor sat opposite them, folded his hands, and let out a long breath.
Now that they were alone, his expression changed completely. The righteous public composure was still there, but beneath it sat exhaustion and something darker.
Something that looked a lot like shame.
Only then did he speak.
"Now we can talk properly."
He lifted his gaze to Issho, Axel, and Hawkins in turn.
Then he said, with absolute clarity,
"I know everything Forsyth has done."
.....
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